Thursday, February 16, 2017

Members Seeing Losses In Insurance Coverage

Blue Voice candidate for President Kevin Graham vows to get back insurance losses under Angelo...

Asked at every roll call what the Blue Voice slate will focus on
in the upcoming elections, health insurance tops the list.

It's also a major concern for retirees, who fear the FOP under President Dean Angelo will negotiate away their benefits even more.

The reason is that everyone, citywide, is talking seeing for the first time the changes in their health insurance that
went into effect in 2017. They wonder why the police should be getting stuck
with higher costs, and they are concerned about the affordability of the
insurance with these changes.

“The FOP must regain the losses negotiated in the last contract.
We deserve more, not less. That should be obvious to anyone who knows what the
police face everyday,” Blue Voice presidential candidate Kevin Graham said.

Starting January 1, 2017, FOP members are liable for a co-pay
every time they go see a doctor. That means every time an officer takes anyone
from his family to the see a doctor, he has to fork over some money, anywhere
between $25 and $35 dollars. That can cost a member more than a $1,000 a year.
This is the first time that our PPO Plan has ever had co-pays.

Worse, those co-payments do not count toward members’ out-of-pocket
costs or their deductible.

Candidate Kevin Graham

And it’s not just the co-pays. Depending on the insurance plan
FOP members have, they may now pay an increased percentage of their bill, an
increase in some cases from 10 percent to 25 percent, depending on what
hospital they go to.

This is the new “tiered” system that was agreed to by Dean Angelo’s
administration. In this tiered system, the city’s insurance will pay different
rates at different hospitals. That means it is often more expensive for a
member to visit the hospital they want, and cheaper to go to a hospital they
don’t like.

Other PPO Changes for 2017:

·$150
emergency co-pay.

·Transplant/bariatric
surgery covered only when Blue Cross Centers of Distinction are used.

·PPO
members must call to pre-certify scans.

·Increases
in retail prescriptions.

What was the Angelo slate thinking when they accepted these
changes?

Policing is as dangerous and risky as ever. Why should officers
get lower insurance benefits?

While the Angelo administration has been unwilling to explain
why they accepted these changes, Presidential candidate Kevin Graham has been
telling members that restoring the old insurance benefits will be a central
goal of contract negotiations if he is elected president.